Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Tim B. takes a look at an entertaining ESPN card from Vegas.
Wow. Just wow. There were high expectations for Dustin Poirier and Dan Hooker. And they certainly did not disappoint. Both men landed incredible volume throughout the fight. They engaged in some serious grappling segments. Round two might have been one of the best rounds I’ve ever seen. But in the end, Poirier outlasted Hooker in the main event of UFC Vegas 4.
The two men landed some crazy hard shots, ones that would end most lightweights. They both just walked right through them. Neither man got dropped. Neither man was ever even seriously wobbled, somehow. The first round was Hooker’s. The second could have gone either way. But Poirier took over, connecting with the right hooks and using a nice jab. Hooker took to grappling later in the fight, though he still got his licks in. I thought Poirier took the last four rounds. Definitely the last three. The judges had it 48-47, 48-47, and 48-46. I didn’t see a 10-8 round in there, but the right man won.
I hope these guys get some nice bonuses, because they beat the holy hell out of each other.
- Mike Perry is a unique individual, and that makes people sometimes underestimate his skills. His bout with Mickey Gall was seen as a striker vs. grappler matchup, but it didn’t really turn out that way. Gall actually looked very good on the feet for the first half of the fight, landing a ton of shots on Perry. But surprisingly, Perry outgrappled Gall over that time, getting him to the floor and controlling Gall well. The second half of the fight was all Platinum though. He dropped Gall late in round two and almost got a finish. And he controlled the third on the feet and on the ground. It was a solid victory for a solid fighter that doesn’t get his due.
- Perry’s post-fight interview was a rambling, entertaining speech about everything from haters to the IRS to “mai tais on the beach”. It might be more worth watching than the fight – and the fight was pretty decent.
- Maurice Greene and Gian Villante’s heavyweight fight was as weird as I expected. Villante looked comically big, channeling Rampage Jackson’s move up to HW. Greene was the longer fighter and used it well in spurts. Villante managed to land hard kicks. The fight was pretty even through the first 12 minutes, until Villante dropped Greene with a hard counter left. He jumped on Greene and tried to pound him out, but just sort of gassed out. Greene locked up a really confusing choke that didn’t look dangerous at all, but Villante tapped out of nowhere! It was a head-and-arm choke from the bottom, which became apparent on the replay. And Greene ended up with an unlikely win.
- Listening to Michael Bisping and Dominick Cruz trying to describe what happened with the choke was pretty funny. Nearly everyone was bewildered with the tap but those two had no real explanation for it, even after viewing the replay a few times. I generally like both guys as commentators, but hearing them bumble their way through something they clearly didn’t understand was my favorite part of the night.
- Kyle Daukaus is double tough. Brendan Allen should have finished him early after dropping him and having him in deep trouble on the ground. But Daukaus persevered, even with a nasty cut over his eye. He came out strong in the second, but again ended up in trouble due to Allen’s strong grappling and ground striking. The third was a different story, though. It was Daukaus that was stuck to Allen’s back for nearly the entire round, hunting for a choke. It never came though, and Allen won a decision in a fun fight. The one judge that had it 30-27 Allen though? Fire that person immediately. That’s the worst card I’ve seen in some time.
- Jason Witt took a fight with Takashi Sato on no notice, with the promotion actually having to move the bout to the main card to allow more time for Witt to submit his medicals. Unfortunately for him, Sato didn’t care what time the fight went down. Sato leveled him with an awesome left, then pounded him out in under a minute.
- Sean Woodson came in as the biggest favorite on the card, and early on, it looked like he deserved to be. Julian Erosa was getting touched up by a lot of strikes. But Erosa adjusted, bringing a lot of pressure and not letting Woodson get his shots off. Erosa took the second, and in the third he managed to quickly secure a choke off of a takedown and pick up a very unlikely, parlay-busting victory.
- The undercard had some very nice moments. Khama Worthy looked great against Luis Pena, eventually finishing him with a sweet guillotine. Tanner Boser didn’t take much time to destroy Philipe Lins, knocking him out with huge shots in the first. 20-year-old Kay Hansen looked a little lost in the first round of her fight with Jinh Yu Frey, but hit a sweet transition in the second and quickly secured a triangle armbar to earn the tap. And in the opener, Youssef Zalal took out a game Jordan Griffin by decision.